Promoting accountability in governance
The Constitution is very explicit on the declaration of assets by certain categories of officers.
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Article 286 Clause (1) of the Constitution says: “A person who holds a public office mentioned in Clause (5) of this article shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by, him, whether directly or indirectly – (a) within three months after the coming into force of this Constitution or before taking office, as the case may be; (b) at the end of every four years; and (c) at the end of his term of office.”
The Constitution also talks about actions or inaction that breaches the provisions on the declaration of assets by the specific public office holders.
Article 286 Clause (2) says: “Failure to declare or knowingly make false declaration shall be a contravention of this Constitution and shall be dealt with in accordance with Article 287 of this Constitution.”
Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, it has been difficult for members of the public to ascertain the assets of their leaders because no publication is made of those assets.
We cannot blame the public officers required by law to declare their assets for the “loud silence” over the imperative because the assets can only be made public on demand.
Clause (3) of Article 286 says: “The declaration made under Clause (1) of this article shall, on demand, be produced in evidence – (a) before a court of competent jurisdiction; or (b) before acommission of inquiry appointed under Article 278 of this Constitution; or (c) before an investigator appointed by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice.”
Judging from public discourse on this subject, it appears that a section of society is not satisfied with the assets declaration regime in the country.
Although the spirit behind the provision is to ensure transparency in democratic governance, we are far from that goal because the assets of such officers are always under lock and key at the
Auditor-General’s Department.
We live in a country in which, every year, politicians throw dust at one another for perceived acts of corruption but we lack the courage to operationalise constitutional provisions to make a public display of all assets so declared.
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), an anti-corruption organisation, has called on President John Mahama to move beyond filing his tax returns and paying tax and declare his assets.
It also asked the President to ensure that ministers of state and other public office holders required by law to declare their assets did so.
The Daily Graphic thinks civil society organisations should not be pushing only for the declaration of assets but also call for reforms in the assets declaration regime in the country.
These reforms should include the publication of all such assets so declared in the newspapers and on radio, so that members of the public can scrutinise the assets of public office holders.
There is open talk about the profligate lifestyles of some of our public office holders, bringing to question whether such officers are living within their means.
Democratic governance is expensive to run, but we must go the extra mile to ensure that those who want to serve actually do so because they want to be the servants of the people and not to amass wealth at their expense.
Our public officers must be adequately rewarded for the services they offer the public, but they must not abuse the public trust by feeding into the perception that public office holders do not want to share the burden of society during these harsh times.